The present invention relates to blanks and reclosable cartons formed therefrom, and more particularly to such blanks and cartons having a receptacle portion and a cover portion which may be pivoted relative to the receptacle portion to overlap the upper edges of the receptacle portion and close the otherwise open top thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,471 describes a reclosable carton having a receptacle portion and a cover portion having downwardly extending skirt portions which overlap the carton receptacle portion when the carton is closed. In the carton disclosed therein the front of the cover portion and the front of the receptacle portion are adhered together (for example, by an adhesive) by means of a front flap, so that, to initially open the carton, the front cover portion must be torn from the front receptacle portion along a designated line of severance on the flap. While cartons of this type are generally acceptable for their purpose, they have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. For example, the consumer-user attempting to initially open the carton will generally grasp the cover portion by the front thereof, closely adjacent the point at which the covered portion is adhered to the receptacle portion, immobilize the receptacle portion and pry the front cover portion upwardly. As a result, the user has little leverage to employ in attempting to tear the front cover portion from the front receptacle portion. In the case of children and infirm adults (for example, those with arthritic hands), initial opening of the carton may be difficult, if not impossible. Also, while the carton design contemplates that there be a flap secured to the front panel of the receptacle portion by a line of weakness (i.e., a line of severance such as a perforation line) and adhered to the front panel of the cover portion by glue or other adhesive, the adhesive applied for this purpose may accidentally be applied to unintended areas with the result that the front cover panel is secured directly to the front receptacle panel (not via the flap) without any intervening line of weakness. In this case, the absence of any intervening line of weakness precludes relatively easy initial opening of the carton and the carton must be forced open by tearing of the front cover panel, the front receptacle panel, or both.
Furthermore, the provision of a front flap secured to the front receptacle panel and adhered to the front cover panel requires the use of additional amounts of paperboard (or other material from which the carton is made) and glue, thus increasing manufacturing cost. Finally, the presence of the front flap intermediate the front cover panel and front receptacle panel tends to cause the front receptacle panel to bow inwardly to accommodate the extra paperboard thickness, thus posing problems when the carton is subsequently used in connection with automatic packaging machinery.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a reclosable carton which is consistently easier to originally open then the known reclosable cartons.
Another object is to provide such a reclosable carton which employs lesser amounts of paperboard and glue then the known reclosable cartons.
A further object is to provide such a reclosable carton in which the front receptacle panel remains relatively planar, thus facilitating handling of the carton by automatic packaging machinery.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a reclosable carton which is easier to open because the consumer-user is afforded more leverage in initially opening the carton.
It is another object to provide such a reclosable carton which is consistently easy to open because the possibility of misapplied glue accidently adhereing the front cover panel directly to the front receptacle panel is substantially eliminated.
It is a further object to provide a suitably cut and scored blank useful in the manufacture of such a reclosable carton.